U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, shakes hands with South Korean Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., Monday. AFP-Yonhap

SEOUL/WASHINGTON — The top defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States held talks in Washington on Monday, focusing on advancing the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul and Korea's push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back met one-on-one with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to discuss follow-up steps on the OPCON transition and nuclear-powered submarines, in line with the agreements reached between the leaders and at high-level security talks last year, Seoul officials said.

The talks also came a day after South Korea determined a strike by two unidentified flying objects was behind the May 4 explosion and fire on a South Korean-operated cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The issue could be raised in Monday's talks.

South Korea is seeking to retake wartime OPCON before the Lee Jae Myung government's five-year term ends in 2030, reportedly targeting 2028 for the transfer while U.S. President Donald Trump is in office.

However, signs of differing views between the allies have emerged after U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told Congress last month that the two sides seek to meet conditions required for the transfer no later than the first quarter of 2029.

His proposed timeline suggests the OPCON transfer may not be ready even after Trump's term ends on Jan. 20, 2029.

South Korea handed over operational control of its forces to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime operational command still remains in the U.S.' hands.

Under a three-phase framework, conditions for the transfer include South Korea's capabilities to lead combined Korea-U.S. forces, its strike and air defense capabilities, and a regional security environment conducive to such a handover.

In last year's annual Security Consultative Meeting, Ahn and Hegseth agreed to develop a road map designed to expedite the implementation of conditions for the OPCON transfer and seek to certify the second part of the three-stage program.

Source: Korea Times News